Xerox drivers: the inside story

See Xerox + Windows 2000 = dissatisfaction.

Although there are XP drivers for the P12 printer, these, like those for Windows 2000, will only use the 300DPI features of the machine.

Of course, one of the problems is that the once mighty Xerox is in all kinds of trouble and writing drivers is probably low on the list of the firm's Chapter 11 difficulties.

Here, however, is what an ex-employee has to say about the affair, with his suggestions. He remains anonymous at hiw own request.

"The Xerox Channels Group no longer exists. (It's been gone for about 2 years now.) Towards the end of my career as a 3rd Level Support Engineer, I spent a great deal of time testing the Xerox SOHO Laser Printers, including the P8, P8e, P8ex, P12, P1202, and P1210 series.

"Most of Xerox's first and second level support for these products had been taught that if they could not resolve the customer's issue in approximately 20 minutes (!) to follow two more procedures.

"1) Use the Hewlett Packard Equivalent Driver
"2) Escalate the Call.

"While most of my fellow 3rd Level Engineers complained about these policies, as around 30 to 50 per cent of the calls that were escalated to us were not properly solved trouble in the first place, we did our best to fix the customer's problem.

" While most of our products tested "ok" with several operating systems, Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT, Linux/BSD (lpd & lprng); the two OSes that the P12 had problems with were Windows 2000 (no "official" driver) and BeOS 5 (No Support).

"Originally, the workaround for Windows 2000 was to use the NT 4.0 driver, while we waited for a Windows 2000 driver from Samsung or Fuji (The P12 OEM). If that didn't work for the customer, we were instructed to help the customer install the HP Compatibility Driver. "It was also rumoured around the time of my leaving, that the P12 was going to be EOLd (end of life). Seeing as that the group that formerly supported this product line and the Channels Group is no more, my suggestion for this poor fellow, would be to see if they can find either a Samsung or Fuji driver that would work." µ